rise of stalin!! Flashcards
Control over Party Organisation
Stalin took advantage of his position as Secretary-General to appoint and reassign his Party members. Thus, he replaced the allies of his opponents with his own allies.
~build a strong base of his own supporters in the party itself. he could also liaise(communicate) with the party members, to gain control of the party, thus led to his rise in power
Stalin also took advantage of the Cheka, which was the secret police who could go after the enemies of the state. Stalin utilised the Cheka to get rid of his own political opponents
~people feared Stalin, as they did not want to be labelled as his enemies and get arrested, thus they supported him out of fear, therefore led to his rise
Non-disclosure of Lenin’s testament
(not a stand-alone point, must be paired with Secretary General pt.)
When Lenin died in 1924, his testament was read out at a Central Executive Committee, with all his potential success present. In his testament, Lenin was criticising all of his potential successors, thus the Party agreed to not make Lenin’s testament public. Although Lenin’s testament explicitly said to remove Stalin from his position as Secretary-General, the Party ignored it as they felt Trotsky was a greater threat due to his powerful personality and connection with the army
~Stalin’s image would be protected, and he would still remain as Secretary-General. Hence, the people of S.U. would not know what Lenin said about the candidates, and will still choose to support Stalin as he was seen by the public as Lenin’s right-hand man
Trotsky’s unpopularity in the Politburo
Trotsky was one of the strongest competitors Stalin had to face, as he had the support of the army, as he led them to victory against the Whites in the civil war from 1918-1922. Trotsky was naive and did not forge allies in the Party. When Lenin died, Stalin told Trotsky the wrong date of Lenin’s funeral, and thus did not attend it. He was thus perceived by the public to be disloyal as he dared to miss Lenin’s funeral. Therefore, Stalin created a troika alliance with Kamenev and Zinoviev to discredit Trotsky and remove him from power.
Trotsky’s unpopularity pt 2 (outspoken)
Furthermore, Trotsky was outspoken, and he openly criticised Lenin’s New Economic Policy. These criticisms openly challenged the policies and the Party itself and were thus seen as disloyal acts against Lenin and the Party.
Stalin was the Chief mourner at Lenin’s funeral, and thus was perceived as faithful and close to Lenin, leading to his rise as people were more likely to support him
Additionally, Trotsky believed in a “permanent revolution”, which was to incite revolutions all around the world. Trotsky failed to garner the support of the party, due to his unrealistic and radical idea as he needed a lot of men and resources. However, Stalin argued for “socialism in one country”, which was to strengthen his forces in S.U. before spreading revolutions around the world. He made sure he had the party’s support, so it cleverly seemed like Trotsky was straying away from the party. Thus Stalin’s argument was more realistic, and thus more people supported him, thus leading to his rise in power.
Pretended to be close to Lenin
- made frequent visits to Lenin, acting as chief mourner during Lenin’s funeral( showed himself to be deeply sorrowful over Lenin’s death), and ordered Lenin’s body to be embalmed and placed in a mausoleum.
which gave his fellow party members as well as the general public that he was extremely close to Lenin and that Lenin favoured and trusted him, Lenin’s right-hand-man
therefore people saw that Stalin would succeed Lenin, and thus Lenin’s supporters supported Stalin, which led to his rise in power
The exploitation of ideological divisions
Stalin allied himself with different ppl
1. made a troika alliance with Kamenev and Zinoviev, and convinced them that Trotsky was a radical as he openly criticised Lenin and the NEP, thus Trotsky was expelled from the party
2. broke troika alliance with Kamenev and Zinoviev, and thus convinced moderates that Kamenev and Zinoviev were working with Trotsky to overthrow the govt, and hence both of them were discredited and isolated
3. Switched over to win the support of the radicals. Bukharin and Rykov (moderates) opposed Stalin’s rapid industrialisation measures and central control of the government, and wanted NEP back. However, rest of Politburo sided with Stalin and removed
Bukharin:1929, rykov: from his position as premier in 1930
